Sunday, July 26th - Cologne, Germany

We were up early and had breakfast and off for our city tour at 8:45 a.m.  The ship arrived a few hours earlier so some folks were out for walks or runs along the shore but we just seem to manage the deadline for the official tour.  It was definitely cooler out this morning and our little group was the only one outside on the terrace for breakfast.  Most of the guests are Australian and they probably just think, "those crazy Canadians".

We went by bus for a quick 10 minute ride into the old city centre.  We started at the Cologne Cathedral, which is a truly awesome gothic building.  The cathedra is Germany's most-visited building and it is indeed impressive on the outside.  For many different reasons, construction took over 600 years from 1248 to 1842 (easy dates to remember!).  The highest of the two spires is 510 feet tall and ornately decorated all the way up.  You can climb over 500 stairs to get to the top for a city view but we didn't have time for that.  At least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.  Frank, who is a tri-athlete from Edmonton, is the only one I know who went up.  Perhaps that's another case of "those crazy Canadians."  

We only saw the exterior on our walking tour but I did quickly (and quietly) go into the cathedral after our tour finished.  It has a high vaulted ceiling with clean light-coloured pillars and arches stretching all the way up.  The central area is high but even the side aisles are impressive in their high stark whiteness.  The interior is 150 feet high and almost 500 feet long.  There are side chapels on each side at the back, and that was as far as we were allowed to go because there was a service in progress.  The stain-glassed windows are beautiful and the sun was shining in the one side.  Apparently there are 10,300 square metres of stained glass in the cathedral.  They know this because it was all taken down and stored during the war.  Speaking of the war, the pictures of Cologne after the bombing, which I think was in 1942, are amazing.  Over 10,000 bombs were dropped on the one night and the only building that was still intact at the end was the cathedral.  It was damaged and burned but it was still standing while all around it was rubble.

I was not able to see some of the other important features of the cathedral because of the service.  There is a beautifully carved 13th century Shrine of the Magi that supposedly contains the bones of the three wisemen.  The 14th century choir stalls which seat over 100 are said to have amazing carvings on them, and the 10th century Gero Cross is known for its simplicity.  There were also specific altars and windows I was supposed to notice but didn't.  The whole building is a UNESCO world heritage site - deserved so and perhaps the only one in Cologne.

Now back to the walking tour.  We walked past the Roman Germanic Museum, which I later went through so I'll get back to that later.  We then went to the old city hall - and saying old simply means that it was rebuilt in the 50's or 60's in the same place and with the same design.  They did this for a few buildings but they seem a bit lost within the other buildings that were erected at the same time.  The city hall has over 100 statues on it and they are indicating the important people of Cologne over the years going back to Roman times and ending with the first German chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, who was once mayor of Cologne.   The statues are not the same as on the pre-war building but the thought is the same.  Below the clock on the tower there is sculpture of a man's face with an open mouth.  Each time the clock strikes the man sticks his tongue out.  This was apparently a commentary on the fact that the mayor and the city were screwing the townsfolk by taxing them.  In front of a small building across the square there is a tree.  Behind the tree there is a building with a statue carved into its upper floor and someone is obviously "mooning" city hall.  The city planted the tree after they discovered the other statue and its meaning.

Further along on our tour we passed the Wllraf-Richartz and the Ludwig Museums, which are really more like art galleries I think, and several other churches and cathedrals that I no longer remember the names for.  We passed the 4711 House, where the original eau de Cologne was created in 1709.  It still sells the original perfume and, when we smelled it, we all agreed it was better than any current-day perfume - fresh and light as opposed to strong and over powering.  We also passed several monuments and fountains and squares along the way.  Unfortunately we had to skip the famous Chocolate Museum as it was too far out of the old city centre.  

After our tour finished back at the cathedral I made my quick trip into the cathedral and then went into the Roman Germanic Museum to spend about 45 minutes.  It wasn't nearly enough time but it was still good to see.  The museum is new and large and very open and bright with the cathedral shining down on it through the open ceilings.  The displays were quite remarkable and the Roman exhibits dated from the 1st century BC to about the 3rd century AD.  It included small and large exhibits, everything from tiny coins and ear rings to large portions of the old city wall.  The exhibits also included floor mosaics, statues, busts, pottery, coins, jewelry, coffins, headstones, etc., everything from rulers to eduction to entertainment.  The museum is built over the remains of a Roman villa which was once the home of the famous Dionysus mosaic dating from 220-230 AD.  It is 630 square feet and once adorned the dining room of the villa.  Another mosaic, slightly smaller, showed the scholars of the era, and one of the largest pieces was the almost 50 foot high funeral monument of Lucius Publicius (1st century) which was really impressive.  The museum also has some much older exhibits dating back as far as the 10th millenium BC.  These relics (arrow heads, knives, pottery, tools, etc.) are definitely not Roman and I didn't spend a lot of time looking at them as it was the Roman exhibits I wanted to see.

Cologne was officially settled by the Romans in 38 BC and it was an important trade centre.  By the Middle Ages it had more than 150 churches.  Now it has over 3000 taverns and bars - but most of the churches are still there.  When you drink beer here, kolsch beer, you get a .2 litre glass.  The waiters will keep filing it up every time it gets empty, and put a mark on your coaster, until you eventually place your coaster on top of it.  It's an easy way to know who wants a drink and who doesn't, and at the end of the evening you know exactly how much you have had to drink and how much you owe.  I don't think any of our group had a chance to check out the beer but there were certainly bars open and people drinking before 10 a.m.

We were back on the ship by noon and started sailing down the Rhine towards our final destination of Amsterdam.  It is hard to believe the cruise is almost over.  I think a lot of people are happy to be getting off but I'd be happy to stay on for another month or so - if the destinations kept changing.  Our standard of living is definitely going to drop when we get into our small second-rate hotel in Amsterdam.

It is cool again today but nice.  The cruise is very enjoyable and there are lots of beaches and parks along the route with lots of people out enjoying their Sunday afternoon.  Also lots of campers and bikers and walkers all along the route..  It seems like a very civilized way to spend your weekend.  Along the way we also often see groups of swans along the way.  They seem to be a standard feature on this stretch of the journey.  The land is much flatter here and much different than the Rhine Gorge that we saw yesterday wit all the castles.  It still looks green and like great farmland though.

We are just passing by Dusseldorf and the banks of the river are just packed with people.  There are lots of tents up and there is a bit midway with lots of rides on the other side of the river so I think there must be some kind of a festival happening.  It certainly looks like a bustling city.  We have no more stops though.  We just carry on to Amsterdam where we arrive tomorrow morning.  

This afternoon we had our disembarkation briefing and port talk.  It's still hard to believe we are in our last days of the cruise.  Tonight we had the captain's farewell cocktail which was a quick sip of champagne and a few speeches.  The captain is very nice and we gave him our deep appreciation for getting us through this cruise.  We are still the only ship that made it through all the way and we can't imagine what it would have been like to be bussed the final week of our tour or stuck in one place waiting to get through.  I think I've noted before that a cargo vessel tried to get through just after us and they got stuck so the whole route has been closed ever since.

After dinner which included baked Alaska for dessert complete with a parade around the ship with sparklers (not the cake actually lit) and an introduction to all the staff, we went up to the lounge for the crew show.  It was silly and cute and quite enjoyable - definitely nothing professional but that wasn't expected anyway.  Following that they danced the evening away to more really loud music and after about half an hour I called it a day and went to my cabin.  Only two more sleeps aboard the Emerald Star and then it's time to move on.  So sad.